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The key witness to the demolition of a block’s worth of buildings in the Savamala neighborhood of Belgrade by 30 armed masked men during the early morning hours of April 25 has died -- exactly one month after the destruction occurred, and the night of Serbia’s contested elections. Savamala, which borders the capital’s Sava River and is home to Belgrade’s widely heralded “new Berlin”-style arts district, is slated to be largely leveled in order to pave way for the controversial development of the Dubai-inspired Belgrade Waterfront project championed by Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and his ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
The witness was taken to the hospital several days ago, after calling paramedics reporting that he’d been feeling unwell due to both threats and pressure following the attack on the neighborhood. Previously, the witness in question had given his anonymous testimony before the cameras, his face blurred, and spoken to Ombudsman Sasa Jankovic and others involved in investigating the case.
Jankovic said in a report released earlier this month that Belgrade police had refused to respond to complaints lodged by other witnesses who said they had seen roughly 30 masked men armed with baseball bats and shovels knocking down buildings situated near the riverbank on the night between April 24 and 25 and allegedly beating resident bystanders.
Paramedics took the witness to the government VMA (Army Medicine Academy), a large army hospital. One of the witness’s friends, whose property was among those demolished in Savamala last month, wrote to Commissioner for Information of Public Importantance Rodoljub Sabic, complaining about the treatment his friend had received at the hospital. He reported that the VMA had restrained the witness by tying him down, claiming he had “mental problems”. The witness’s friend expressed concern that the army hospital was mistreating him while he was still alive.
Earlier today, Serbian media reported that the witness, who was born in 1958, had died. The cause of death offered by the VMA was contradictory, with some reports claiming he’d died due to “heart problems”, while others cited “digestive problems”.
A protest against the surprise demolition of Savamala by masked men exactly one month ago had been planned for this evening, and will continue as scheduled.
